Many of us remember him as the delightful geek next door, but
Enjoy transcript form the interview below:
"Did I do that?"
Hi, I'm Jaleel
White . People know how I ended up
on that show. It was a guest spot that turned into a 215 episode journey.
"Family Matters" was a show that we shot in front
of a live audience. It gave you a very theater feel.
You got pumped &
jacked like an athlete taking the field.
"Hehehe..."
"Hi Laura , my
little sweet potato."
I've lived all of these episodes, so people literally
sometimes will quote episodes to me in the streets, & I'm like I can thumb
in my head pretty quickly & be like, "Okay, season 4." "No,
that's season 3.
That's season 5."
"As my grandma once said when she overcooked our
noogies, tough noogies!"
What's cool & relevant, though, about "Family
Matters" is that I guess we're dropping on Hulu.
People still appreciate
the work & somehow, in a really weird way, it's being appreciated even more
with time. So it seems to be aging like wine right now. Whereas it wasn't aging
like wine for a while. It was just there.
"There is no Steve
here. I'm Stefan sweet thing."
You're always going to have some similarities with your
characters. I mean that's just bound to happen. Steve Urkel
was unusually athletic. You know, I was athletic. So that was something that we
added to the character that was intrinsically Jaleel.
I would have tried to be an athlete, but I don't have an
athlete's body. I'm not 6'8" with a wingspan that, you know, reaches all
walls of the room. I would have definitely hovered around the sports community.
Maybe even ended up in marketing, or as an agent, or something like that.
I think everybody goes through ups & downs in their
life. But the most profound impact on my life was the birth of my daughter. I
think I was born to be a father. It helped recalibrate a lot of my life
priorities.
My daughter is a YouTube kid. So my parents have tried to
foist "Family Matters" on her. & she'll watch it, & she
thinks it's funny because I'm talking in a high-pitched voice. But she goes
right back to her YouTube.
Being a dad, I barely have time to watch the shows I want to
watch. I enjoy more of eclectic stuff.
Like the food shows you'll find on
Netflix & stuff like that. I'm not so much of a "Bachelor" guy.
I just became a working actor really after "Family
Matters." Everything from "Dreamgirls" to "Boston
Legal" to NCIS" to "CSI." You name it, I did it all.
My favorite probably out of all of the jobs though that I've
worked were "Total Blackout," which is a show that I hosted for SYFY,
& my guest appearances on "Psych."
"Now we just have to find the perpetrators who did this
evil deed ..."
"& kill them."
"What?"
"And bring them to justice."
"Man, what's wrong with you?"
"Psych" fans are legit fans. They are not fake
fans. They love you today. They love you forever. They just have a rabid cult
following.
"With my looks & your brains, we're
unstoppable."
Sonic was this job that I took when I was in high school
that I didn't even want really. I was leaving the set from shooting
"Family Matters," & instead of going to play basketball or what
not, I was going to a recording studio & doing about 100 episodes of
"Sonic."
When I look back on it, I'm very happy. I had no idea it was
another legit hit on my resume. So nothing but love for Sonic the Hedgehog from
me.
You know, for us to be 20 years removed from what
"Family Matters" was, & here I am with another family series on
CBS, I just feel honored to be a part of the transition.
And I play Daryl
on "Me, Myself, & I."
"You're living in my garage."
"Rent free!"
"So I no longer have a man cave."
"No, you do. There's just another man living in
it."
It's a really, really fun & unique half-hour premise. That's
why I was drawn to the role. It's not something you would typically see on CBS.
With Darryl , he's
very focused, upbeat, positive, & about getting his money & keeping the
train on the track. & so I'm looking to bring that to the screen.
& I know that's a part of my personality as well.
It's gonna be good nostalgia for other people. Just with the
storytelling in itself. All this 1990s stuff that the show's going to explore.
But, for me, it's a look back at a journey to say, "Wow, I'm still
here."
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